Bill Davis, who served two up-and-down years as the linebackers coach for Ohio State will not return for the 2019 season. He announced on Tuesday that he will be returning to the NFL
The announcement coincides with the report that Ryan Day will be adding Michigan assistant Al Washington to his staff. Ohio State is expected to make that announcement official later in the day.
Davis joined the Buckeyes in December 2016, following the departure of Luke Fickell to Cincinnati. But even when he was first added to the staff, he was viewed as an unconventional hire.
Davis had most recently served as the defensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles from 2013-2015. He only coached one year of college football before, and that was as a graduate assistant at Michigan State a quarter-century earlier.
After that, his entire coaching career was in the NFL.
Davis played his college ball at Cincinnati with Urban Meyer, and later famously served as the Best Man in Meyer’s wedding. That personal connection may have helped land him a job, but in two seasons with the Buckeyes, there were persistent questions about his linebacker unit.
Despite fielding talented players like Jerome Baker, the 2017 linebackers struggled. They were part of a defense that gave up 19 points per game, including a humiliating 55-24 blowout at Iowa, where they allowed 6.4 yards per rush and 7.6 yards per pass.
After Baker and Chris Worley left, the defense slumped even more in 2018, allowing 25.7 points per game. That’s more than 10 points worse than in Fickell’s last season.
The S&P+ rating system had the 2018 Buckeyes 79th in the nation against the rush, 74th against the pass, and 124th out of 130 teams in allowing explosive plays during the course of the regular season.
While Davis was certainly not the only person responsible for the defense’s performance, he and his linebackers caught a lot of criticism for their role in all of the big plays allowed.
Oregon State scored on runs of 49, 80, and 78 yards.
TCU had a 93-yard touchdown run and 51-yard scoring throw.
Penn State scored a 93-yard touchdown through the air.
Purdue had touchdown runs of 40 and 42 yards, and a pass of 43.
Maryland scored on runs of 81 and 75 yards.
Northwestern scored on a 77-yard run.
That’s 12 touchdowns of 40 yards or more. In the year before Davis took over as linebackers coach, 2016, the defense allowed only one 40+ yard touchdown all season.
With the issue never truly getting resolved, and without a track record of college coaching success to point to, Davis became one of the more frequent targets of anger and frustration from fans.
Nothing but the upmost respect to Billy Davis. After several discussions I support his decision to pursue opportunities in the NFL. One organization will be getting a great coach and man.
— Ryan Day (@ryandaytime) January 8, 2019